Preview: Sit back and enjoy 'Fable: The Journey'

Xbox 360 owners have had almost two years to embrace Kinect, the motion sensor that implores players to put down the controller.

So far, game experiences fall into two categories: casual titles in which players stand in front of their TVs jumping and flailing like crazy to perform tasks; or "core" titles that often limit functionality to voice commands.

However, the next project from Lionhead Studios is quite different. Fable: The Journey is a "core" action adventure title built specifically for Kinect. Plus, players can actually sit back and relax.

Developed over an 18-month period, Fable: The Journey spawned from a famous Kinect demo featured in 2009 starring Milo and Kate.

"We worked around with (Kinect) tech for a while, and we worked around with Milo for a while, but really weren't sure whether it was a game," says Gary Carr, creative director for Fable: The Journey. "It was more about what can the tech do. Out of that technology came seated play. We wanted to make Milo and Kate where it was a virtual boy who lived in your house, and you could walk around your house, sit down and talk to him."

While Milo never saw the light of day beyond that demo, his influence transferred to Fable, in which developers at Lionhead used their seated play technology to craft a guided action title starring Gabriel, a traveling dweller who aids the blind prophet Theresa.

"The game is a little more linear, even though there's branching and optional quests, and there (are) choices, so you can choose different spells and level up those spells," Carr says when comparing The Journey with the rest of the Fable series. "We definitely felt we wanted to go down a more crafted story route."

Another reason for the fresh approach: avoiding confusion with the main Fable franchise, which offers a much more open, deeper role-playing adventure. "By doing a ground-up game, we didn't want people to think we were doing a Fable 4, says Carr. So we purposefully moved into a different genre."

Lionhead uses the Kinect's body-tracking system and reworks it to fit a smaller avatar -- in this case, a seated player. "We don't need the legs, because we're sitting down, so we've taken all those pivot points and put them on the upper body," says Carr.

The Journey allows players to cast spells, steer a horse-drawn carriage and perform other tasks, all using their upper bodies while seated.

During a recent demo of Fable: The Journey, I played through a combat section using my arms and hands to battle. Raising my left or right hand up and thrusting forward performs spells such as lightning or fire attacks, as well as telekinetic moves to grab and toss back enemy projectiles. Holding my forearm in front of my hand acts as a shield to deflect attacks, while leaning left or right executes dodges.

Nailing down attacks was tricky at first. It was challenging to correctly aim at targets and fire. Then I focused more on the Kinect camera, and seemed to have much better success. Players can also mix up spells, such as waving their hand to switch to a fireball, or launching a spell toward the sky, then swiping across for massive area attack.

"One of the rules we made up is if you feel you need your controller back or it feels better on a controller, we don't have that in the game," Carr says of the game.

Along with the single-playing campaign featuring primary and side quests, players can access an Arcade mode and revisit each level to snag the highest score possible.

Carr says the seated play tech used in Fable: The Journey has been passed along to Microsoft so other developers can use it in future titles. It's likely video game players will see more Kinect titles that allow them to rest their legs down the road.

"If you can't sit down to play a game, certain games go off the table," says Carr. "Now, they're back on the table. More games can potentially come through for Kinect."

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About Mike Snider

Mike Snider began covering the video game industry during the Super Nintendo-Sega Genesis clash in 1992. An original pinball wizard, he eventually was seduced by Robotron: 2084 and Tempest. These days he is a fan of action/shooters and lives out his Keith Moon fantasies playing a mean drum kit on music games. More about Mike.

About Brett Molina

Brett Molina has been writing about video games for USA TODAY since 2005. He is well-versed in Madden NFL, the fighting genre and first-person shooters. The first video game he played was Asteroids at a local arcade. He has been hooked ever since. More about Brett.